RITTER said:
I have 2 bills with some of it, one being $600 for an exhaust system that was never put on. But there is no where on paper that I gave him permission to rip the a/c out of my car.
Bad mechanic rant.
- Thread starter Phoenyx
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I have 2 bills with some of it, one being $600 for an exhaust system that was never put on. But there is no where on paper that I gave him permission to rip the a/c out of my car.
Hopefully you can get most of your money back here man. It sucks that this happens. I wish everybody could just do honest work.Phoenyx said:
Blazenlotus said:
Just the under hood stuff, that he just tossed on the back seat all dirty. But it only had a problem with the compresser not engaging, still had a charge in it. He told me it was an easy fix and that he had done it many times.
A few things about this
#1 yes he can take you to court and sue you for slandering his business esp with advertising on the net. Same reason why the newspaper wouldn't let you put something like that in their classifieds, they don't want to be involved in a law suit they know they will lose. Just talking about it on here is nbd slander that b*tch as much as you want, but when you put it in business advertisements its a whole new ball game, people don't understand that. Try to understand that his reason of going to court and your reason are two different things, and it blows but he is in the right just as much as you are (probably more since he owns the business)
#2If nothing was in writing, the verbal contract is null after payment or after very short amount of time, you have to find out specifics with an attorney. I would not go to court, I promise you will not like the end results of that case. I know hindsight is 20/20 but if I ever pay for anything car-related for over 300$ if not from a company with returns/warranties etc I get a receipt in writing with the item, condition, date, person, signature, and a third person. AND a date where the seller agrees the verbal warranty is effective to. For example, if I buy a used transmission I will get him to write down this transmission is in x condition if not he will give a full refund, and uphold that statement until x date. That way when you get the 600$ transmission installed a few weeks later and its broken, ask him for money back if he doesn't then tell him you must sue for your money back if that doesn't get him to cough it up, file suit before x date. This same logic can be applied to body shops and mechanics (body shops may have some clause in their business contracts that protects against something like this). Small business mechanics are usually very vulnerable to this type of thing but it must be in writing or its just no good. Doesn't matter what he took, broke, stole, fixed or didnt fix, its not in writing, it didn't happen.
#3 this ****ing sucks I wouldnt let that ****ing douche wrench on my car another day. You MUST understand these kind of people get whats coming to them someday. Take your loses, never let anyone touch your car again unless its something you absolutely can't do like bending pipes or something. learn it, let it take up your time and money no matter how much that upsets or inconveniences you.
#4 If this is a landlord situation, try to work on your car at a friends or relatives. My dad lets me keep my junk at his place, if he didn't I'd be doing it at a friends house or a rental garage/unit that lets you work on autos.
#5report him to the BBB thats about all you can do at this point with the advertisment thing, and spread this info locally by word of mouth to everyone that you know, not in writing
#1 yes he can take you to court and sue you for slandering his business esp with advertising on the net. Same reason why the newspaper wouldn't let you put something like that in their classifieds, they don't want to be involved in a law suit they know they will lose. Just talking about it on here is nbd slander that b*tch as much as you want, but when you put it in business advertisements its a whole new ball game, people don't understand that. Try to understand that his reason of going to court and your reason are two different things, and it blows but he is in the right just as much as you are (probably more since he owns the business)
#2If nothing was in writing, the verbal contract is null after payment or after very short amount of time, you have to find out specifics with an attorney. I would not go to court, I promise you will not like the end results of that case. I know hindsight is 20/20 but if I ever pay for anything car-related for over 300$ if not from a company with returns/warranties etc I get a receipt in writing with the item, condition, date, person, signature, and a third person. AND a date where the seller agrees the verbal warranty is effective to. For example, if I buy a used transmission I will get him to write down this transmission is in x condition if not he will give a full refund, and uphold that statement until x date. That way when you get the 600$ transmission installed a few weeks later and its broken, ask him for money back if he doesn't then tell him you must sue for your money back if that doesn't get him to cough it up, file suit before x date. This same logic can be applied to body shops and mechanics (body shops may have some clause in their business contracts that protects against something like this). Small business mechanics are usually very vulnerable to this type of thing but it must be in writing or its just no good. Doesn't matter what he took, broke, stole, fixed or didnt fix, its not in writing, it didn't happen.
#3 this ****ing sucks I wouldnt let that ****ing douche wrench on my car another day. You MUST understand these kind of people get whats coming to them someday. Take your loses, never let anyone touch your car again unless its something you absolutely can't do like bending pipes or something. learn it, let it take up your time and money no matter how much that upsets or inconveniences you.
#4 If this is a landlord situation, try to work on your car at a friends or relatives. My dad lets me keep my junk at his place, if he didn't I'd be doing it at a friends house or a rental garage/unit that lets you work on autos.
#5report him to the BBB thats about all you can do at this point with the advertisment thing, and spread this info locally by word of mouth to everyone that you know, not in writing
Phoenyx, sorry to hear of your troubles. What the guys are saying is all too true. You should talk to this guy, explain that what you and he agreed on and what was done are not the same. Try to leave your anger at home and be sure to take a friend or someone who knwos about cars as a witness. Act reasonable and understanding of his situation. If you can get him to admit he didn't do as agreed in front of a witness you may have a chance in court. If not, unfortunately, it is his word against yours. That is an uphill climb. Maybe not impossible, but difficult.
To me, the most inportant thing now is to salvage what you can. To do that, you will need someone who know his way around cars and engines and trannies. Don't buy or sell or give away or throw anything through the window until someone looks at what you ended up with. If this guy says you need a converter because the cam is too big to generate vacuum, based on your story, I would be willing to bet this fool stuffed too much cam in what may be a resonably good engine.
A cam swap, especially out of the car, would be less chancy than changing the stall and trying the engine as is.
If it really is too hot not to run a stall, then maybe you can sell or trade the engine for something more suited to your needs.
No matter what, the first step is finding out what you actually have. Good luck!!
To me, the most inportant thing now is to salvage what you can. To do that, you will need someone who know his way around cars and engines and trannies. Don't buy or sell or give away or throw anything through the window until someone looks at what you ended up with. If this guy says you need a converter because the cam is too big to generate vacuum, based on your story, I would be willing to bet this fool stuffed too much cam in what may be a resonably good engine.
A cam swap, especially out of the car, would be less chancy than changing the stall and trying the engine as is.
If it really is too hot not to run a stall, then maybe you can sell or trade the engine for something more suited to your needs.
No matter what, the first step is finding out what you actually have. Good luck!!
pontiacgp said:
Facts of the case are this - Phoenyx took his car to this guy, told him to do x,y,z for this price before this date. Business owner agreed. How do we know Phoenyx told the guy to do these thing? How do we know what date it was agreed on to be finished? How did we know he didn't tell the mechanic to do other things, agree to different set of circumstance etc etc. In order to back up a claim against business defamation you better bring it well or you're going to get whipped. It's going to be difficult if not impossible to prove truths in this case and its going to get very expensive, and he will never make anywhere near the money back that he's lost out on now with hiring an attorney. It's not something to go to court over. Its a waste of money, and if the defense brings in a big wig attorney claiming damages against the guy's business for false advertisement or libel/libel per se/defamation what have you, then Phoenyx is in a world of hurt. At least thats how it goes down in Houston and most big cities I know of.
Now that's worst case scenario. Best case scenario, phoenyx gets a few grand for his troubles after months of planning and headache. By the time he got what little money back he'd put down he'd probably wished he just let it go. But something like this IS NOT worth a chance of ruining your life over, it is not worth it, its not worth it at all. I wish I could say that a thousand more times. I highly doubt any attorney will work sincerely for this case without being paid by the hour. Take the loss and move on. I'm no legal adviser at all, call someone to get advice. But if you DON'T tell the attorney before court date about the kijiji add and how the mechanic threatened suit and he takes the case he's off the hook as well, he can just leave you flat out for dead paying 50,000$ to this **** face over the next 20 years. Phoenyx is out what 20,000$ or possibly more from his emotional damage and time lost at most. The business owner could go much farther than that for loss of business over however many months. Reality doesn't matter in a court of law. I've personally seen friends who have attorneys back out on cases with MUCH more value added than we're talking here, when its an easy open shut deal. Don't trust a lawyer as far as you can throw him.
If you do want to make a deal of it, all I can say is do not hire an attorney based on contingency. Do pay for initial consultation. And if you thought 20 grand was a lot of money just wait. I'm not sorry for this way of thinking, if I hadn't seen these types of situations then I wouldn't make a big deal about it. I'd be up there with everyone else saying, hell ya sue that b*st*rd!! but the real world is different.
Well since I just spent every cent I had on his work and cabs while waiting, he has nothing to get from me lol. And I'm not working at the moment (doing the stay at home dad thing) so I have no income to pay him.
But let's not forget the fact that I have a bill saying I have a guaranteed engine installed with warranty, that isn't operational. Or maybe I should just run it like it is with the belt hitting the pulley and no fuel filter until something breaks and then sue him for that? Hmm, would that even be possible?
But let's not forget the fact that I have a bill saying I have a guaranteed engine installed with warranty, that isn't operational. Or maybe I should just run it like it is with the belt hitting the pulley and no fuel filter until something breaks and then sue him for that? Hmm, would that even be possible?
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